Hydroelectric Power Project Proposed At Wister Dam

A renewable energy development company that operates out of California wants to harvest hydroelectric power out of Wister Lake.

A renewable energy development company that operates out of California wants to harvest hydroelectric power out of Wister Lake.

Wister Power, an LLC out of Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., which has a parent company, America Renewables, a Delaware LLC, has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a preliminary permit to conduct studies to determine the feasibility of a project that would modify the Wister Lake dam to generate hydroelectric power.

Magnus Johannesson, CEO of America Renewables, said the project could bring a boost to the local economy.

"We feel that there is an opportunity there," he said.

The project would operate in a run-of-the-river mode to harness water that is released from Wister Lake. It would call for modifications to the existing dam that would add five 48-inch steel pipes about 150-300 feet in length with five inline generators that would use the discharge from the reservoir to create about 16 gigawatt hours annually, the application states.

"The project will increase the production of renewable electricity and will help relieve the pressure on utilities to meet the Renewable Portfolio Standard requirements. The project will use excess water to generate electricity that otherwise would not be used for such purposes," the application states. "It will boost the local economy by bringing jobs to the area promoting economic growth in the region. The project will take into account recreational activities and environmental issues to ensure that existing public interest is conserved."

The Army Corp of Engineers owns and operates the Wister Dam. The project managers would have to seek proprietary rights through the LeFlore County commissioners and the city of Poteau.

"Long-term, I don’t know that it’d be a lot of jobs, but construction-wise, it would create a few jobs," Poteau Mayor Jeff Shockley said.

The Poteau Valley Improvement Authority protects and restores the water quality at the lake. PVIA manager Don Goforth questioned the feasibility of the project as it has been proposed.

"If it could be done, it’d be great — but we have our doubts that it could be done," he said.

Goforth said the company is seeking to generate electricity out of the water that the Corps releases, but that doesn’t happen often enough to support the kind of investment required for the project.

Johannesson estimated that construction time would take between three to five years, with a ballpark estimate of $15 million to $20 million to complete. The studies would cost about $500,000.

"The sooner we do (the studies), the better it is for everybody — both the public and agencies and ourselves," he said. "We don’t want to go down a path of designing a project only to find out later that the design is not going to work because of something that somebody else is pointing to. We just want to know everything as much as possible up front so that we have a deep and good understanding of the project."

If the company gets the go-ahead on the studies, the public would have an opportunity to lend its input at community meetings. Right now, residents can go to www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ecomment.asp and comment on the project. Include the number P-14591 at the beginning of the comment.

Oklahoma Rep. James Lockhart, D-Heavener, said he has called Johannesson’s company, who said they would be happy to meet with him. Lockhart has had staff research the company, which has conducted a few smaller-sized hydroelectric dam projects at spots across the United States, Lockhart said.

"It will be interesting to see how far this project goes," Lockhart said. "During the summer months, usually the discharge from the lake is very minimal. I question if this will cause them to step away from the Wister project."

America Renewables, along with Kruger Energy, constructed a similar dam project at Lake Clementine in California. That project was about three times larger that the one proposed at Wister Lake, Johannesson said.

Before any work could be done for the project, the Corps will have to make repairs to the dam. Right now, the dam is ranked a Category 3 out of 4 in dam safety because there have been some issues with some of the conduits that let water out of the dam. The joints are very deep underground, and it will be a very expensive fix requiring federal dollars, Goforth said.

"The Corps won’t allow anything done to the dam — you can’t raise the pool, you can’t do any construction on it — until dam safety takes them back up to a Category 4," he said.

The PVIA Board of Trustees meets the first Tuesday of every month. It will meet tonight at 7 p.m. at Poteau City Hall.

Goforth said the board likely will prepare a letter to federal authorities so they can go on record as being opposed to the project, given what they know so far about it.

"We’re not against progress by any means, but we want to protect what we have here if we’re going to do it," he said.